Ukrainians Vote All Around the Globe

The Ukrainian Antarctic station "Akademik Vernadsky" had 100 percent turnout, as all 12 members of the expedition voted

uatv

22.04.2019

While the Ukrainian presidential elections have concluded with showman Volodymyr Zelenskyi emerging as the winner, the Central Election Commission continues to count the last of its ballots.

One striking observation that could be made about this election, was while approximately 73 percent of voters in Ukraine chose Zelenskyi, as it was with the first round of elections, incumbent Petro Poroshenko won a slight majority – 54 percent – of Ukrainians voting from abroad.

The first polling station in Canberra, Australia opened at 8 a.m. local time and 11 p.m. Kyiv time. A few hours later (Kyiv time) the polling station in Shanghai opened. The last polling station to close was in San-Francisco. It stopped working at 8 p.m. local time, but 6 a.m. today – Kyiv time today.

The highest number of polling stations was in Germany with a total of five. The embassy said that more voters came to the polling stations on this, the second round of voting than the first. Voter turnout in Berlin doubled.

Ukrainians encouraged each other to vote Sunday. Residents of remote cities, some 100 kilometers away, signed up beforehand and organized in groups to come to polling stations, or even hitchhiked.

Ukrainians in Denmark also encouraged each other to participate in the elections. The local Ukrainian embassy and the electoral commission led a massive information campaign on social networks to attract as many people as possible.

Countries with some of the largest Ukrainian diasporas like Italy, Poland, and the United States had four polling stations each. In New York alone, at least 12,000 voters were registered. They were ready to come from hundreds of miles away. Canada had three polling stations.

One polling station had 100 percent turnout. That was the Ukrainian Antarctic station “Akademik Vernadsky.” The 12 participants of that expedition voted. A ballot bin was constructed from materials at hand including a wardrobe that was used as a voting booth.

Ukrainians living in Russia could take part in elections by voting in Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Finland. The highest number of voters was registered at a polling station in Moldova. The lowest number of voters was in Serbia – with just 42 people. It’s estimated that approximately one-tenth of Ukrainians living abroad took part in the elections.

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